By Anthony Mitchell
Introduction
When we aim at a target and pull the trigger, there is a reasonable chance that the bullet will end up fairly close to what we aim at. If we have a look inside the barrel of a rifle or a handgun, we will see some spiral grooves known as rifling.
As the bullet travels through the barrel, it engages with the grooves. This makes the bullet spin, and enhances accuracy. The grooves also leave their mark on the bullet, as seen in the photograph below.
As to how much difference is made by having a rifled barrel, we might just travel back around 200 years and have a look at the difference in accuracy between a smoothbore and a rifled musket.
The Smoothbore Musket
A typical example was the “Brown Bess” musket used by the British army. A muzzle-loading weapon, it fired a round lead ball of around .75 calibre propelled by a charge of black powder. Ignition was by flintlock. For a description of accuracy, we have an account by a Colonel Hanger, an officer in the British army. He wrote in 1814:
“ A soldier’s musket if not exceedingly ill-bored (as many are), will strike the figure of a man at 80 yards, perhaps even at 100; but a soldier must be very unfortunate indeed who shall be wounded by a common musket at 150 yards, provided his antagonist aims at him; and as for firing at a man at 200 yards with a common musket, you might as well fire at the moon and have the same hope of hitting your object. I do maintain and will prove, whenever called on, that no man was ever killed at 200 yards by a common soldier’s musket by the person who aimed at him.”
In 1841the Royal Engineers conducted series of tests on “Brown Bess.”
At 150 yards “By very careful shooting” they could hit a target “twice as high and twice as broad as a man” three times out of four shots.
At 250 yards “The mark was made twice as wide as before, but of 10 shots at 250 yards, not one struck”
As shooting at long distance was a waste of ammunition, most military engagements were at less than 100 yards. Soldiers were taught to fire in volleys, the theory being that if a lot of people fired at the target, there was a greater chance of hitting it. Rapid reloading was emphasised, with a good shot able to load and fire 3 times in a minute.
The Rifled Musket
In 1801the British army adopted the Baker rifle. Designed by London gunsmith Ezekiel Baker, this was a muzzle-loading rifle. In order to enable the round lead ball to engage with the rifling grooves, the ball was loaded with a greased patch of leather or fabric around it. It was slower to reload, but much more accurate.
Testing proved that the Baker rifle could hit the target 9 times out of twelve at 200 yards. Ezekiel Baker himself claimed it could strike targets at 400 to 500 yards away, but not with any certainty of hitting what was aimed at. The Baker rifle was so successful that it was issued until 1837.
Initially issued to specialised units only, by the mid 19th century, the muzzle-loading rifle was general issue across all major armies.
Terminology
Armies may no longer fire musket balls at a target, but still use the term “ball” to describe plain full metal jacketed ammunition.
The hammer of a muzzle-loader was always placed at the “half cock” position to guard against the firearm discharging whilst being loaded. (If the hammer slipped off the half cock notch during loading, this could be very unfortunate for the shooter concerned). Thus the phrase “going off half-cocked” gained common use in the English language.
The term “Lock, Stock & Barrel” indicating a completed product, also dates back to the muzzle loading era.
Rifling is a detailed subject in itself. The number of grooves and the rate of twist, for example, are two things that are carefully matched to the calibre of the bullet being used.
Next time you loose off a shot, spare a thought for the shooters of yesteryear, we dfinitely have it a lot easier these days.
Until next time, have a happy and safe shoot!
References: The Book of Rifles by W.H. Smith & J.E. Smith
The Sharpe Companion by Mark Adkin
One Shot, One Kill by Andy Dougan